Silent Red
by rdy2rokGURL
Summary: Through the years, Red has always been silent. He lives a quiet life, closing himself from the outside world. But there is one matter he's loud about-being a champion. Rated T for violence.


Everything is great for Red that night. He's going home with his parents from the restaurant where they ate their dinner. Red could still remember the delicious taste and what they had—spaghetti with meatballs with lots of cheese on top, rib-eye steak with French fries (the thick ones) and to top it all off, a big bowl of different flavored ice cream.

The three of them leave the restaurant, satisfied. The stars are twinkling and bright; the night breeze is so cold that they had to wrap their coats tighter to stop shivering; and the streets were nearly empty, which left the town with peace and quiet.

Red is exuberant as ever, running in front and behind his parents.

"Slow down, little champ," laughs his mother. "You might trip and fall."

The little boy ignores this warning, continuing to slide down the pavement, laughing as he does so. "I won't fall," he says with a proud tint in his voice. "I'm a champion."

His parents do nothing but laugh as they watch the little Red swerve out of their sight and into the next corner. Slightly worried now, the mother walks faster until she reaches the corner. "Red, you shouldn't—"

She stops short. She is met with an empty street. Seeing his wife freeze in shock, Red's father runs up and spots the silent street as well.

"Red?" His wife calls out and at the same time, he releases his Poliwrath. He orders him to look for Red and they start searching. The man regrets not bringing his whole party with him and the mother scolds herself for not bringing any pokemon at all.

After a few minutes of searching, they panic, to the point that Red's mother is crying silently.

Suddenly, they hear a noise at a nearby alley and they immediately search. They are greeted by a gang of adults, scruffy-looking with faces filled with scars. They spot Red, being held by one of the more muscled men.

Red's mother focuses on her child while the father debates on his chances. 'There are approximately four of them, with two strong pokemon each. Definitely, I won't be able to stop them with just Poliwrath. We have to distract them while we escape with Red. But how?'

"Hello there, lady and gentleman," grunts the scrawnier-looking man with a gold tooth in a teasing voice. "I take it you're looking for this kiddie over here, right?"

"Let him go" is the immediate reply of the mother and the grunts just laugh in response.

"I'm afraid we can't do that."

"What do you have against us?" asks Red's father, his poliwrath stiff and ready to fight.

"Nothing," says another man with arms full of tattoos. "Though we know who you are. One of the most powerful couples in Kanto, close accomplices of the famous Professor Oak…you two are undefeatable…the best in the region…"

"Then what did we do to make you all do this?" asks Red's mother in a choked sob.

"Existing," growls the skinny guy. "If people knew we defeated the champions, then we'll be the ones rolling around in money. You people have _no idea_ how much shit we have to go through here."

"Then we can bargain," interrupts Red's father. "We can settle this professionally. You don't need to keep my son captive. I'm sure sponsors would like to donate—"

"SHUT UP!" cries the man. "We're not doing this only for us, but for all the others who are good enough to defeat you, but don't have the riches that you have. If you want your kid, you've got to go through us."

"This isn't fair! We don't have our pokemon."

"Too bad. This just proves more that you are not worthy of being on top. You don't leave your weapons when you walk through a battlefield."

Immediately, anger bubbles inside of Red's father. "WEAPONS? Is that the only way you see your pokemon? As weapons?"

The men snickers. "Yes."

Red's father lets out a frustrated sigh and whispers to his wife, "I'm lending Poliwrath to you. Fight with him, distract as much as you can while I try to get Red."

"How are you going to fight?" she asks nervously.

"I'll try wrestling them off me, but all we need now is to get Red."

Nervous and frightened, she takes his Poliwrath and starts thinking of a battle plan. Her husband faces the men and says through his gritted teeth, "If that's the case, then you aren't worthy to become the champions."

Red's mother calls out the first attack and most of the pokemon focus on it. The father runs towards Red, barreling down the men in the way. He hits the buff man holding Red in the gut, leaving the breath out of him, and takes Red's hand as they run.

"You're not getting away!" growls one of the men as the pokemon hits Red's father behind the neck and he feels something crack. Then, he is left paralyzed, hearing the cries of his wife.

"TAKE HIM AND GO!" he screams and with hesitation, the mother takes Red's hand and tries to run, but isn't able to escape. One of the pokemon grab hold of her as Poliwrath is beaten by the rest of the pokemon.

Someone takes Red's arms and puts them behind him.

"LET ME GO!" he shouts, thrashing about. He couldn't understand what's happening, but he knows his parents are in trouble. "Stop it and let us go!" he wails through his sobs. Someone strikes him across the face and he feels the warm blood trail from his cheeks down to his chin.

This makes him cry even harder.

"Quiet, you little brat!" commands the skinny man, but he doesn't stop. He growls but decides to focus on Red's parents, one bound and one paralyzed. He laughs maniacally.

"Not so high and mighty now, eh?"

The mother struggles as the father stares daggers at the four men. They laugh.

"Well then, since we defeated the champions, I guess we can _play around_with them a little bit…before we finish it off."

The others nod in agreement. The skinny man faces Red, still crying and still sweaty with blood. "Watch boy, and see where being a champion takes you."

It is all fuzzy for Red and he couldn't quite remember what happened…not that he wanted to. All he remembers that there were a lot of red…the color red…dripping down the walls…clothing his parents' bodies…spraying on his face…

Red…red…_red…_

Then, there is a crack as they turn their necks sharply to the left, leaving both trainers motionless. The men don't do anything but laugh and laugh and laugh. After they let it out of their system, they face Red, now shaken and wide eyes, although he probably isn't seeing much of anything.

They let him drink a strong liquid, which makes him writhe in pain. It feels like his throat is being ripped it out and his mouth was being lit with fire.

"Why can't we just kill him?" Red hears one of them ask.

"Not necessary…But let's make him remember…"

He blacks out.

The next thing he knows when he wakes up is being in the hospital. The nurses and doctors attending to him and the cops waiting for questions to be answered. However, when he opens his mouth and tries to speak, there's the same burning sensation in his throat and he couldn't utter a single sound.

That's when they decide that Red has become mute.

"How did it happen?" Oak asks during one of his occasional visits with his grandson.

"We suspect they used a strong chemical that burned some parts of his throat."

"How were the other organs left undamaged?"

"He was fed a small amount, so it probably didn't reach any other parts."

After a few weeks, he is let out. "Where will he go?" the nurse asks Professor Oak. "Does he have any relatives that he can live with?"

"From my knowledge, no," answered Oak with a sigh. "We're taking him in. We don't know what else to do."

And they do so. Red starts living with Professor Oak, Daisy and Blue. However, on the occasion, Red would disappear and Oak and Daisy would go through all the trouble to find him…and they would end up in the same spot…in Red's house.

"Where did his parents' pokemon go?"

"In the lab…although some of them escaped."

They decide to leave him there, bringing him food and keeping an eye on him from time to time since they know he wouldn't be stopping this habit any time soon.

"Shouldn't we call a doctor?"

"No," Oak says. "Let him sort it out on his own. This is something a doctor can't fix."

The years go by, nothing changing. Daisy brings Red food, occasionally spending time with him. Blue also visits, not knowing what happened before, and insults him playfully every five minutes. After a few years, Red seems to develop to more than being an empty shell.

When the time comes, when Oak was able to build the pokedex, he gives one to his grandson, in which he hopes will aid his journey to the Pokemon League. He sighs, looking at the newspaper that printed out when Red's parents had their first win.

Champions, people called them, even though they never won anything official. They were world-renowned, the best trainers of their time, even though they never participated in the league or in gym battles.

That day is their death anniversary, as well as the first day Red's father went on his journey. Oak was there when he saw his friend take his first step on his journey. The next thing he knew, both of them were on the news, Red's father for his strong trainer abilities and him for his discoveries.

Suddenly, he hears a knock on the door and he calls the person to come in. Surprisingly, it is Red, suited up, travelling clothes, bag and everything. Oak understands, but he waits for Red to explain.

"Why?" he asks, not coldly, but more of a challenging way. Red stares at him blankly, raises his finger and points at one word on the newspaper.

_Champions_.

The professor nods and gives the other pokedex and starter pokemon to Red. He wishes him luck as he walks out of the door and takes his journey to become a champion himself.


End file.
